The subject is big – your life and the survival of your family and community. It involves nuclear weapons, which most people believe they can’t influence. It’s so big, so threatening, so overpowering, most don’t think about the problem at all. Until you see a message on your phone: Emergency Alert BALLISTIC MISSILE THREAT INBOUND TO […]

Killing Care Softly It’s official: doctors treat charts, not people. Harvard researcher Russell Phillips reckons physicians of many stripes are now “data entry technicians.” My preferred term is “checklist monkeys.” The results for your health care? Not good. How much time and energy are really wasted? Recent reports show ER physicians spending 44% of their time […]

Odor and the Brain Can a few sniffs separate those who become demented from those who do not? Some researchers think so. The reasons why can tell you a lot about how your brain and body work – and ways to get them to work better. What Was Found? It’s been known for a […]

When the Past Is Prologue Humans don’t see threats until they’re kicking at the door. But that does not mean you can’t put a crisis to good use. Chance rules the world. As Nassim Taleb showed in “The Black Swan” and other books, low probability events can create high impacts. But the threat to the […]

It’s time for a very short quiz. Do you learn more – Taking a walk across an abandoned car park Or Studying for a required calculus test? Teachers, academics and most folks will probably choose #2. Even if we don’t like calculus, we’re taking a test. That’s gotta be important. Yet most human learning does […]